More Paperwork Done

Wednesday July 30

We went to meet Judith so we can get the legal papers done for Jayne’s visa and for me getting a new ID (when you get married you have to get another one that says you are married).

First we went to the police station where you can get a police check. This is a police check just for Ecuador but you need one done. This is stupid as whether you have something on your record or not you still get a new ID.

Then we went to a clinic where Jayne can get a health check. The one we went to first was where I got mine done but we were told that it’s only opened from 8am to 9.30am! However, Jayne had a list of addresses where you can get this done, so we went to one she had on the list. This one is opened 24 hours a day.

They were told that it’s for a visa entry and the guy said it would be $19. However, on the web site that Jayne got the info from it said $10 (do we smell a rip off here?). Then we went into the hospital – which is in the same building – and she had to take different kinds of tests. Jayne already had her urine and feces samples with her and she gave that to them. Then off to other tests. I had waited one hour before all of this was done.

We were told that we had to come back in 30 minutes for the results.

All the tests proved negative – meaning that Jayne is in good health. It’s just that her blood pressure is low. When we went to pay, the total cost $60 plus!

I told Jayne why she took all the tests when what was only required was pee, poop and blood samples. She thought that everything was needed. Like I said, I wasn’t with her in the examining rooms but was sitting in the waiting area.

It looks like another rip-off by people here – this time the hospital is responsible.

Every day we have to go to Quito for some reason. It’s like going to work. God forbid that people would have to go to work as they would have to take off (most of what has to be done the person personally has to come in to one of the government offices).

What we still have to do is:

to go to the immigration office (for Craig’s paperwork)
go to my lawyers office with all the paperwork that we collected
go to a travel agency to book a flight to Columbia (for Jayne to get her visa)

(I hope that there is a flight that’s not full, as it is the summer time.)

Showing an Apartment

Tuesday July 29

We met with Beverly who wants to rent a flat. She was over an hour late in showing up, but she did call while we were waiting to tell us she’d be late.

We took a taxi to the flat and showed it to her. She liked it and wants to move in. She would like a 6 month lease. This is good, as I thought she’d only be there for 3 months. Beverly said that she would like to move in Friday.

Then the three of us went to get something to eat. After we ate she went on her way while Jayne and I checked out a new English bookstore that is only a couple of blocks away.

The owner is from England but has been living here for 21 years. He has two children by his ex-wife who is Ecuadorian.

We got a call from the insurance man about what is needed to have claims made for repairs (the roof needs repairs and the damage it done inside). He sent an email with the info. He said he would like to have this done as soon as possible. I told him that he’ll have to wait and explained in the letter that we have to get Jayne’s visa done and that we’ll have to leave the country to do this. I said it won’t be until August as there are too many things going on at one time.

Have to go to Columbia

Monday July 28

(More pictures as we promised.)

Jayne and I went to my lawyer’s office to see what needs to be done. She told us that Jayne needs to leave the country in order to get either a 3 month or a 6 month extension and this is granted in an Ecuadorian Consulate abroad. The closest one she said is in Columbia and that she dealt with them before.

Maria said that we can take a bus there and it’ll be a 5 ½ hour ride. We said that we didn’t want to take a bus. The reason is that the roads could be bad; the drivers are bad and most importantly, there’s a chance of highway bandits! This has happened to others in Ecuador and going through Columbia, it’s more likely to happen. So we’ll fly.

Because of the damn government here, we’ll have to pay money for this trip which is not where we want to go for our honeymoon. We want to stay in a place where we like and to stay more than 2-3 days. But because of the stupid laws here, we’ll have to make a special trip, then take another trip for our honeymoon – which is being delayed because of all this.

Had we got married in Cyprus, the only thing that Jayne would need would be getting her resident visa when she comes back. Had we the money to live in Cyprus, we would and we would not have to go through all the red-tape, time, and money for either of us to live there (resident wise).

New Wedding Pictures

Saturday July 26

Jayne and I went to the mall so I could download the pictures that a friend sent me of what he had taken at the wedding. My connection at home is too slow to do all of this. So, we went to a restaurant that has wireless internet where I took my computer.

I got a call from Beverly, a woman that Jayne and I met last week. She said would like to rent a flat, so we plan to meet Tuesday so I can show it to her.


Sunday July 27

Today was a quiet day at home. We just went to the local food market to buy our fruits and vegetables.

New Pictures

I got some new pictures that Mathieu had taken with his camera. So, I'll post some of them on this blog site. Here is the first one...